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Audience Score

Liquid Sky Ratings & Reviews Explanation

Liquid Sky
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Movie Info

A glitzy updating of Andy Warhol's Trash with aliens, this campy, stylish, but ultimately depressing film is one of the most keenly observed portraits of New York's early '80s downtown new wave scene. Anne Carlisle, who co-wrote the script, is terrific in a dual role as the wan lesbian Margaret and her arrogant gay nemesis, Jimmy. Tiny space aliens see Margaret shooting up and choose her to feed their heroin-like addiction to a substance produced in the human brain during sexual climax. Her partners end up vaporized, but since most of them treat her like dirt, Margaret doesn't mind. Meanwhile, a German scientist (Otto von Wernherr) has been tracking the plate-sized alien craft and observes it from the apartment of a horny Jewish woman (Susan Doukas); all the while, he is oblivious to her comic frustration and increasingly blatant sexual advances. Despite the sci-fi elements, considerable humor, cool music, and a gorgeous production design, this is really a film about desperation and ugliness. Other than Von Wernherr and Doukas -- who are outside the punk scene -- the characters all loathe themselves and treat each other horribly. Most of their sex involves rape, and when they die, each seems to be better off. Perhaps the bitter aftertaste of this film explains why it never really caught on as a midnight movie, but it is a dark gem and well worth seeing.

[This] film, with a heroine who is sometimes a hero and who is apt to show up in a red corset with matching red-and-blond skunk hairdo, can hardly be for everyone. But the right audiences are bound to appreciate the originality displayed here.

Audience Reviews for Liquid Sky

Jun 03, 2016

Arguably the most invasive soundtrack ever put to a film. Intriguing that a movie so defined by its music didn't have anything nearly as good to offer as the God Module track it inspired 20 years later, "Transcend".
Though the core concept is fascinating and the aesthetics are brilliant, in all honesty, Liquid Sky can be quite difficult to watch.

What a trip!
I saw this when I was a wide-eyed kid & it blew me away utterly. I had never seen anything like it. I remember thinking to myself whilst watching it : "Hey, maybe I COULD make a movie after all!!"
Don't expect much linear narrative here....this film is all about STYLE....& it explores this theme using a chaotic story about NY junkies & visiting aliens who are after human endorphins released in the brain during orgasm. Oh, yes, & the lead hero & heroine are played by the same mesmerisingly exquisite actress....see, I told you it wouldn't make much sense.
Just sit back, crank up the volume for the awesome soundtrack & ENJOY!!

This was meant to appeal to that warhol-ish, "fuck me, im original." crowd. but if this was a book, and it looks like it might have been, then it wouldn't be very shocking at all since the characters talk like the kids in the hall in one of their bitchy, whatever sketches. your brain has to have a hole in it big enough to shove applesauce into with a wooden spoon if you have any hope of knowing what the fuck the movie means. anyway, its nice and pretty. and original and shit... once you see it you'll realize "oh, so Lady Gaga DID'NT come up with the idea for those ugly stupid costumes?"

Liquid Sky Quotes

Margaret:

Let's go dancing! What else is there to do?

Margaret:

You wanted to know where I'm from? I'm from Connecticut, Mayflower stock. I was taught that my prince would come, and he would be a lawyer, and I would have his children. And on the weekends we would barbecue. And all the other princes and their princesses would come, and they would say, "Delicious, delicious." Oh, how boring.